Starting Chemo in Nov. 2011...anyone else?
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Grandma - Thanks for all the information. I was wanting to get familiar with how the process would be when I get my mammogram next month, so that I wouldn't be unduly worried or not worried enough. Your experience helped a lot. I am glad things are going well for you. It is funny. As we have more and more "normal" things happening with our health, I think we will continue to calm ourselves and get our lives back to a more familiar normal for us all. Have a great weekend!
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Julie - The rads will probably be the simplest of all the things you have to do. I never had any problems with it, just redness, dryness, and a little soreness. Having to go every single week day got old pretty quickly also, but I just counted down the days until it was done. Good luck with it, and keep us posted.
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Morning all,
I still check in to see how everyone is doing. I think I am getting back into a more typical routine, not having to go to rads every day and only herceptin every 3 weeks. Glad others are doing the same. I do get frustrated with those who think I am "over it" now. NOT. I think it will be awhile before I can put all in the rearview mirror. Mammo scheduled for Sept 5th. Friend coming, I will never go alone again. And anticipating some emotional stuff, as there is just one side now and the fear factor.
I am leaving for a week on Cape Cod later today. This willbe the first summer i have gone without my kids. They are with their dad on vacation. We typically take different weeks, but due to treament I was fearful of scheduling earlier. On one hand I can use the break and rest and on the other I will miss having them with me and the distraction. I do have some friends coming for a day or so here and there And I have great neighbors there. Hoping to use some of the time to "feel" as I went thru treament I put much of that off and begin to regroup as I begin the fall.
Gentle Day to all
Nel
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Just dropped in to see if anyone was still reading/posting. So glad to see that most of us are doing pretty well right now. Hope everyone feels better and better each and every day and that we all stay healthy. I see my MO in a couple of weeks and I have a feeling a mammogram is in the not so distant future. We are going on a cruise in 5 weeks. It's the one we were supposed to take last year right when I was diagnosed, so I am going to refuse to schedule it before we leave. My DH and I haven't gone anywhere for 3 years and I just want to relax and have fun without worrying that a phone call from anyone at Radiology spoils it. I have to tell you I am very scared to have one done after last year. Oh well, gotta keep positive thoughts and lots of prayers that everything will be fine. I am back to working full-time and by Saturday I am ready for a rest. Do any of you still have fatigue, or am I just a wimp? To all...take care and keep posting once in awhile! Hugs...Linda
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Hey all, rads going well so far, going to have #11 tomorrow, then only 25 more to go, woohoo! Hope everyone else is doing well!
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Nel & Linniehop - I completely agree with you for being apprehensive about getting a mammogram. My first one since the last September diagnosis is scheduled for Sept. 24th, and I have already asked my husband to go with me. It will never be the same again, and I am afraid I will be worried even if they say everything is fine because according to my surgeon, the tumor I had, had been there a few years unnoticed, and during that time, it travelled to my lymph node. I am thrilled for both of you to be going on vacations, though. Have a great time, and try not to think about BC. We have given that enough of our thoughts.
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Hello everyone!
I haven't been on for a while and will read the posts soon. We have moved to North Carolina! I need an oncologist. I called one office after reading about her on the internet but she doesn't take breast cancer patients and the other doctor has to have a referral from my primary physician which I don't have yet! I live about 3 hours away from Raleigh and don't want to drive that far. Any ideas or suggestions? I live in La Grange which is close to Goldsboro or Greenville.
My birthday was August 25 and I got to spend it here. I woke up remembering that on that date last year, I was having an MRI to determine my BC status and developing a plan for this diagnosis. I like how I spent this year better.
I have taken my Arimidex for two days. I already have hot flashes and joint pain so I am hoping that this med will take them away and not make them worse! I am doing better. I had a very bad anxiety attack today. I think I have been overdoing it by unpacking and doing things in the yard. I tried to take it easy and have for a while today. I just dont' want to slow down or miss another day.
My hair is growing back but I lost my eyelashes again. What's up with that? My hair shapes itself into a mohawk no matter how I style it. I now use a lot of gel when I go out so it will stay...it just sticks straight up in the air now! Crazy stuff this cancer be!
I haven't found a pool to swim in here yet. I can certainly feel the difference. I loved swimming and my joints felt so good. Hopefully, I will find one soon!
Blessings and I hope to check in more often!
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bahamamom ~ Thanks for the good vacation wishes. We leave 4 weeks from Sunday, but who's counting? ME! I hate packing anytime go away, but after the past year, packing sounds good to me.
beth ~ My birthday was August 24th and I so agree with you about it being a much better birthday. I got the phone call at work on August 22nd last year at 8:05 a.m. on the first day school was in session. I am the office manager at an elementary school. Needless to say, the office was full of people and I was falling apart. I still can't believe I got that news on the phone! It is something I will address when I am finished with the year of Herceptin. I just haven't wanted to deal with it while I have been in active treatment. Like you, I spent time getting the MRI, Pet Scan and all the other fun that goes with the diagnosis. What a year it has been.
I am also taking Arimidex (generic brand). I really haven't noticed too many more aches and pains, but the hot flashes are definitely a new SE. I thought I was finished with those after menopause. I am hoping more SE's don't rear their ugly head. I still have the neuropathy in my feet. I take medication that keeps it to a dull roar. Like you, I am losing my eyelashes again. What the heck? My hair (I guess that's what it is) is also very unruly. I am probably going to dye it soon. I hate the white, gray, dark colors of this fuzzy stuff. I had colored it so long I had no idea what it would look like...now I now why they invented hair color!
Hope you find a pool soon. Take care and don't work too hard in your new yard!
Hugs to all...Linda
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Dear all...I'm coming up on my first anniversary and feeling strange. A year 9/29/12. How is that possible? But I'm getting emotional about it, too. Taking tamoxifen and feeling good on it...my white count is still low... But expected in a vegan diet. I feel great physically. Good to see all of you out there still. Hugs to my November ladies.
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The anniversary thing is hitting me too claireinaz. It will be a year 9/9 and I am so reliving it. The 'this time last year' syndrome. Any suggestions as to avoiding this? It could literally eat up another year of my life!
First full diagnostic mammogram tomorrow. Maybe that assuming good results, will ease my mind. I can only pray.
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CHH, we should be able to help each other through this....I'm having a bit more anxiety every day, the closer I get to 9/29. "This time last year": exactly! I couldn't put it better. I have my 6 month check up with my oncologist two weeks from today and I remembered that appt this morning and got a little nauseous.
I had a dx mammo and ultra-sound in May, along with a uterine ultrasound, and a breast MRI in April (all clear), so I'm at least not facing any tests, except that whole low white count thing which I'm trying not to worry about too much. At times I simply wish I could just forget about my body completely for a while and keep others (oncologist, hyperventilating NP, GP, students in bikram class who still ask me over and over how I'm feeling) from thinking about my body too.
It still feels like my body isn't really my own. And it makes me anxious since it reminds me I have something to worry about now, and it makes me kind of angry, too.
This whole month is an "oh yeah, last year at this time I was..." And the weather, the sunlight, the natural cues all drive me back into that place.
Hugs to CHH and the rest of you who are probably heading towards a year anniversary, too....or maybe just had one. Any ideas about how to cope with this time?
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I am also approaching one year 9/27. On the way home from work I was thinking the "a year ago" thoughts. I am sure if I checked my appointment book ( I know very old school) there would be notes for appointments, tests etc all over Sept 2011. Not sure how to acknowledge the day, just realized I have a major fundraiser that evening! Maybe good, maybe not. Like claireinaz, any ideas for getting thru the one year mark gratefully encouraged. Off to mammo tommorrow and follow up with surgeon. Friend coming with me.
Be well
Nel
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My year anniversary is on Thursday, 9/6/12- I plan to take the day off from work, begin the day at Mass and then go diving with my husband. This diagnosis has made me realize that we have a finite time on God's green earth. As survivors we do have so much to be thankful for. I hope the next year is the best year ever for all of us....
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It's good to hear from everybody. I hadn't thought about the one year anniversary, until I read your posts. Mine was Saturday. I guess that explains the anxious feelings I've been having. Subconsciously I must have known. I was in a crowd of people Sunday and nearly flipped out. I was hot, anxious and felt as though I couldn't catch my breath. I headed for the exit and sat in my car a while, then cried all the way home. I was thinking, what in the world is the matter with me. It doesn't seem possible that it's been a year.
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Denise I start Thursday with 8 rounds for 16 wks and 3 weeks of rad . I am so blessed to have met all the women here. I look forward all of us positive god loving people through this together
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It seems like so long ago that we started this journey together. Each time I check in, I feel my sisters are sitting at the table with me and we haven't missed a day together. I am blessed to be able to come here and share my joys and fears with you. My first and second surgeries were three years and four days apart. This past winter was a tough one but we made it through, together strong!
I am finally coming out of the slump I have been in (at least I hope I am) and I am going to try to get my brain to function again. There is a community college near my home and I want to check into taking a class or something. I may look for the free online classes. I need something to exercise my brain.
I took the drivers exam for NC and passed yesterday! YAY, now I wait for my license to come in the mail. If my hair has it's way, it goes into a natural mohawk. I gel and spike it so I cannot wait to see this picture! Memories, aren't they such fun???
Have a great, SE free day and thanks for standing beside me.
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Hi Beth,
We are with you! I feel like my sisters on this thread are all marching along with me too.
Half my hair seems to be going straight on top and the rest is super curly (it was NEVER curly before...no one in my family has naturally curly hair!) I'm keeping it short for now, but will probably let it grow eventually. I guess we're glad we at least have hair again...even if it's crazy hair.
Hugs,
Claire
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Grateful and pleased to share that my mammo on Tuesday was all clear. I think that has helped in worrying this my next year won't become like Groundhog Day.
But...so saddened by a friend's diagnosis today. I hate that. This wicked world of cancer just keeps on turning. I will keep supporting her however she needs but I do also remember being inundated with friends of friends who had had cancer was not real helpful in the very beginning. Too overwhelming.
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It makes sense that because we all started our chemo together in November that our dates of diagnoses were close together also. Mine was September 28th, 4 days after my birthday, and 2 days before my anniversary. I am having my first mammogram since then on my birthday. I didn't plan it that way. I just wanted it as soon as I could get it, and that was the first day after my 1 year (insurance requires) that they had an opening. I am hoping that the result will be a good birthday present and help make up some for last year. I am also planning a trip with my husband and my 2 sisters (who live in different states) to Las Vegas on October 3rd. I feel like I have a lot to celebrate and want to have a good time. It still feels funny, having had all those appointments to only have follow-up visits with my oncologist and to be back on the yearly recall for mammograms now. I don't mean I miss it. I definitely am glad that I don't have to spend all my time going to radiation or chemo or some test, or shot, or anything. But it just seems like I should still be doing something more. It is strange to go from almost daily care to twice a year check-ups and yearly mammos. I still look forward to hearing from all of you, reading about your progress and thoughts as time goes on. Thank you to all of you for all your encouragement, advice, and most of all understanding of how I felt when nobody else did.
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Strange, my dx was appx. 3 weeks after my birthday (which is tomorrow). My late husband's cancer began to show itself once again, 17 years ago, this month, 3 weeks after we got married (Sept 2). I've got a lot of anniversaries and memories to deal with in September...
My husband tells me now that September doesn't cause cancer, but this month with all its cues and smells is always hard to navigate--and even more so, 1 year into my cancerversary.
Claire
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There are so many of us with our diagnosis coinciding with other, happier occasions. I received my diagnosis 2 days before my birthday last year on August 22nd. I work as an office manager in an elementary school and the call came at 8:05 a.m. right as school was beginning for the day. There was a room full of parents, kids, etc. as I listened, in horror, at the voice on the other end of the call. Thankfully, I have my own office, but one of the parents I knew well saw me through my window and I think she was almost as freaked out as I was. Needless to say, my birthday and the first day of the school year were nerve-wracking this year, but I am grateful it all went smoothly and my birthday was a fun day that my family, friends, and co-workers celebrated with me. I do have to say that I am still pissed off that a nurse, not any of my doctors, called to give me the bad news. I really didn't have a relationship with this person so it was very surreal. I also feel that this diagnosis should be given in person. I have been encouraged by my BS and a chemo nurse to report what happened even though it's been a year. I am not sure if I want to do that...what's done is done, but then I have the thought that some other patient might have the same thing happen to them. Any thoughts on what any of you would do? You have all been my support and sounding board through this whole nightmare and I could not have made it without you. I want you to know I will be FOREVER GRATEFUL. I hope we will all check in from time to time to make sure we are all doing OK. I will also keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Hugs...Linda
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Bahamamom ~ Just wanted to tell you to have a blast in Las Vegas. My husband and I are going on a cruise on September 30th and I am excited to be doing something fun, not all the medical stuff like last year. Take care.
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Hi Linda, I'm like you. I don't like to report things that bother me, I just don't like to rock the boat. I have felt that I had all I could handle and it just wasn't worth the added worry. That being said, I am shopping for a new oncologist. I think mine is loosing it. Plus I don't like his nurse. She's hateful. Once I have a different onco that I like, I probably should report some of things that happened, but not sure I'm up to it, yet. I'm battle weary. It was good to hear from you. I hope you continue to be cancer free and have a wonderful cruise.
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Linniehop - I understand your anger that a nurse, not the doctor, called to tell you that you had BC. I agree that the doctor should have called. The radiologist is the one who called me after the biopsy to report that it was BC and a little more information about it. I was glad that she did because she has been seeing me after my yearly mammograms for several years and had already done a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound and the biopsy, and she is a woman. So I was about as happy as a person could be getting news like that. Although I do think the doctor should have called, I think it may not always be "quickest" to give you the news in person. For example, she called me late in the day as soon as she got the results, and I would have much rather she told me on the phone than to have to wait a few more days to have a face-to-face appointment. I can say that I didn't have a single question. I was (like you) in a complete and total state of shock, horror to be more accurate, and I can only imagine how I would have felt if they had put the call through to my class (I teach 7th grade) while I was working. I am not sure if there are rules about that sort of thing or if it is just each doctor's preference how it is handled. I love all my cancer doctors, but my regular PCP's office drives me crazy. And I have thought many times of telling the doctor that his staff is incompetent, clueless, and callous, but I have never followed through with it. I guess you just have to decide what would make you feel better.
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Hi Everyone--I too am about to celebrate my year anniversary of diagnosis. I find myself full of anxiety and at the same time feeling blessed. So very thankful I found my cancer....mine didn't image. Not on Mammo...Ultrasound....just a pain I had sent me to my surgeon. Thankful he listened to me....I am going to celebrate on the 14th the wonderful medicine that was available to me, and the medical advances that make my chances sooo very good. It is very surreal to me that one year has passed....I always appreciated life but look at every sunshine and sunset, and everyday with a new found thankfulness that only this experience could give me.
Blessings to you all as we all approach our year diagnosis dates. May we all find strength to help us navigate the memories......and create a world of wonder ones!
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Hi ladies,
My surgeon told me before I was even fully awake from the lumpectomy. I found out later he had already told my husband, and I was pissed. I don't know why he didn't wait till my husband and I were together in the recovery room, and why he didn't wait till I was out of the anesthesia enough to hear him all the way.
I figure i should have been the first to know, and I wasn't. Stupid medical people.
That having been said, I have my 6 month check up in a week with my oncologist and I'm having some high anxiety because of it. I feel short of breath and that worries me, because that was how my late husband's cancer re-emerged a month after his last infusion of chemo. His cancer was different than mine, but you know...I think....is it back? Did it not go away? And will I wind up like him? On the other hand, I've had a runny nose and cough and I think allergies for weeks, and that might be the shortness of breath-or the anxiety in general.
I'm tired of being scared.
claire
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Thanks to all who have responded to my question. I am going to think very hard about what or what not I want to report.
GrandmaV ~ Glad you are changing oncs since you don't seem to have confidence in the one you have been going to. I have heard that the onc I see isn't very aggressive when things aren't going well. I am hoping and praying I don't get into that predicament. Good luck with your new doctor. By the way, I think that feeling of uneasiness must be in our subconscious even if we aren't totally aware of what it is that bothers us as our "anniversaries" approach.
Claire ~ I am in the same state of mind as you...tired of being scared. I am finding that I need to avoid certain topics here because when I read things that aren't good with members I begin to worry it will happen to me. I have had a sinus infection for almost a week and have been coughing and having to use an inhaler to open the air passages, but there is that thought in the back of my mind...and I am sure you know what I mean. I am going to think only positive thoughts for you when you have your check up. I am sure my onc is going to want me to have a mammo or other tests when I see him next week. However, I am going to refuse to have any tests done until I get back from our cruise. I want and need to go on vacation without some test results "in the works." It sounds like you had a not so great experience with getting your results from the lumpectomy, but when those things happen we seem to move forward and do what needs to be done even though we don't agree with how the process worked for us. I just hope the way it happened for me doesn't happen to many others.
Bonseye ~ Great idea to celebrate the fact that we were fortunate enough to get the treatment we needed.
To all ~ great to hear from you. I hope we will stay in touch as our journeys continue. XOXO
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Claire, Those of us that had rads have to be concerned about pneumonitis. The two radiation oncs I talked to both said they have never had a patient with it, but if its so rare then why do they have us sign something that we acknowledge we've been informed this could be a side effect of radiation. I've done a little research on it and some of the symptoms included are shortness of breath, and cough. It usually starts 2 - 4 weeks after treatment, but there are also cases that have been years afterwards. Since radiologists don't usually see us after treatment, they may not be aware of pneumonitis induced by radiation to the breast. The treatment for it is a few days of prednisone, that usually reverses the pneumonitis. If pneumonitis is left untreated it can lead to radiation fibrosis which is not reversible. X-ray is the means of diagnosis. It might be a good idea to mention this to your pcp and ask for an x-ray. I hope this helps.0
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GrandmaV ~ I had to chuckle while reading your last post. Not because it was funny, but for the irony of having to worry about the treatment we've had...so ironic. If it's not one damned thing, it's another. Oh, to have the ignorance we once had about all of this stuff! I want to thank you for posting this because, truly, no one ever really mentioned or explained this to me. Yikes!
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Linda, I feel the same way. I keep wondering what else is going to crop up due to cancer treatment, especially after what Robin Roberts had happen to her. On the other hand I'm thankful they have these treatments to offer us and that we are able to get these treatments. Cancer is so insidious. I seem to be tolerating herceptin well, but can hardly wait to be done and get my port out. I had thought about keeping it, since most recurrence happens in the first 2 to 3 years, but I'm so ready to get it out. I'm pleased with Femara so far. I've been taking it for 5 months and the only real complaint I have is hot flashes. Five years seems like a long time, but hey, I'll be glad to be alive to take it for 5 years.
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